Back to it | Simplifying Science

It’s been awhile since updating my newsletter - and to my amazement, I was asked a lot about what’s next and when more to this newsletter was to come…well, here we go. Back to it! During my ‘hiatus’ I had many thoughts about my journey through science - including the power of being average! And the next science theme to explore for my Candle collection. More on both in another post.

I did receive an interesting question during my time away, one that I receive frequently, and it made me think quite a bit…I was asked how I learn and think about science. Since my time in college (Purdue University, shared in a previous post) I have had a fascination with sharing science, making it accessible and digestible to anyone interested, but also the process of learning this vast discipline.

I immediately recalled my difficulty learning organic chemistry prior to my first exam. That first exam did not go well, and with the fear of [literal] failure looming, I knew that I had to find a system to learn, retain and recall information...different than what I had been using. In September 2008, a show aired “The Mentalist” (one of my favorites). The main character, Patrick Jane - played by Simon Baker, was highly observant, and with his keen sense of observation, he portrayed a mentalist. The method he used to retain and recall information was called a "memory palace". It involves mentally associating pieces of information with specific locations within an imagined familiar place, such as a house, a building, or a palace. This idea was pretty interesting to me - though trying this myself, it did not go so well. From this practice however I did realize that recalling stories, such as this one, came a bit more naturally. So, I started incorporating pieces of information into stories (maybe a “story palace”).

As I would read the material, I would start to tell a story (whatever comes to my mind first), placing the information that I would like to recall in the story. Trying to create distinct images and scenes. (#lifelonglearner)

But the difficulty with my ability to learn some material and the question posed “how do I think about science?”, sparked a desire to try and continue removing barriers to science - increasing its accessibility, and hopefully making science more enjoyable/engaging. This was the genesis of a YouTube channel Science 101 - with three major goals:

1. Simplifying science - Focused on the science that surrounds us every day, from genetics to astronomy. Trying to make science less intimidating.
2. Working to bridge the gap between expert and novice - Making science engaging for anyone interested. With an interdisciplinary approach of exploring scientific disciplines.
3. Removing the barriers to learning science - (To me) Science is a journey of wonder and exploration. "Science 101 is here to empower you with foundational knowledge and inspire a lifelong love for learning."

While scientific breakthroughs are incredibly interesting, I found during my time of teaching, tutoring and mentoring, that an understanding of the foundations of science were missing and this is a gap that I want to help fill. Through the videos published by "Science 101", and post shared on other platforms, the goal is to help create images and nucleate an interest in science. To date, nearly 500 videos have been published through the channel covering a wide range of topics.

Follow along and let me know what you think!